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TR7/8 Door stuck shut.

I've worked on a lot of British cars over the last 40 years but the frustration of a door that won't open past the safety latch had me scratching my head. The problem was the door would latch and lock but when releasing it would only release to the first catch. The interior door latch assembly seemed to be moving the pin that is supposed to release the outer door latch. I took off the working passenger side door outer latch to see what I could find. The outer latch is bolted to the inner latch through the back side of the door with the screws on the back side of the door. The only thing that protrudes through from the outer latch is a small pin. This can be moved with a long probe by going down through the window opening at the top of the door. The inner latch appeared to be operating this pin appropriately. I made sure by operating it manually with a long probe. The problem was isolated to the outer latch not releasing completely. What to do? I tried the brute force shoulder method. I'm not as young as I once was!! No luck. The solution to getting the door open was a big heavy computhane hammer to the inner upper part of the door just above where the lock assembly is. Use a fender cover to protect the door panel and be sure to hit where there is metal behind the door panel. The door popped open after a couple heavy blows. Examining the outer latch assembly revealed a small piece of plastic that had broken away and jammed the mechanism.

If this had not worked I think I was going to have to remove the seat and door panel then take out the rear window channel and destroy the inner latch assembly in order to grind off the captive nuts holding the outer door latch. WHEW!